You're The Key To My Heart
by rebel Ed18
Summary: Chouji Akimichi has fallen in love with the Desert Rose, Temari. Chouji's, Temari's, and Naruto's squad are sent to the Land of Water for a war. Everyone is pained to be in this war, but what Chouji wonders is that will Temari accept his feelings for her?
1. Chapter 1: A New Adventure

I complicated our lives by falling in love with her. I don't know what to do. It's not like I wanted to. It just happened. I'm Chouji. Akimichi Chouji. I've watched this girl every since I came back from the Sound 5 hunt for Sasuke and after I was hospitalized. My friend also loves her. Her and my other teamate, Yamanaka Ino. The one I love has golden hair in four pigtails and a fan. Yes. It's Temari. This is how our lives got changed forever.

My friend, Nara Shikamaru, and I walked up to our special place to watch the clouds go by while eating chips. This was where we first met. We've been friends ever since we were little. "Say, Chouji?"

"Huh?"

"Who should I choose?"

"Huh?" I was mystified on what he was saying. "What are you talking about?"

"Ino? Or Temari?"

I gasped. I didn't know he had feelings for her as well. "Choose Ino. She's smart, leaderful, and powerful."

"Yeah, but Temari is powerful, delicate..."

"Go with Ino!" I snapped, blushing. I didn't want hear another word about her from him.

"Geez, Chouji. What's gotten into you?"

"Um...Oh...n-nothing..." I looked away.

On our way back towards the bridge, we saw Temari and Ino talking to eachother. "Say, Shikamaru. Go tell her."

"Right." We ran up to the girls and Shikamaru tapped Ino on the shoulder. When she turned around, Shikamaru kissed her. They both blushed. I watched Temari glare at Shikamaru and Ino. I was both happy and sad at the same time. I wanted Shikamaru not to love Temari, but I didn't want Temari to still love Shikamaru.

"Don't worry," I told her.

"Huh?" Her blue eyes looked at me.

"I'm sure that you'll find a man that's better than Shikamaru."

"Really?"

"Yeah! I believe so!" I said, smiling and blushing.

"I guess so. So, who do you have in mind, Chouji?"

I blushed. I can't believe she knew my name. I wanted to say, "me" but the words wouldn't come out. "I-I don't know. How do you know my name?"

"Ino won't stop talking about you and Shikamaru. I'm-"

"Temari," I interrupted.

"How'd you know?"

"Shikamaru wouldn't stop talking about you and Ino."

"That makes me feel a little better."

"Anyway, where are you gonna go now?"

"Probably back to my brothers."

"Where are they?"

"With Baki, probably."

"Want me to walk you there?"

"No. I know the way." She walked pass me and I watched her walk. I fell on my butt.

I sighed. "Wheeew! That went _smooooothly_!"

"Hi, guys!" yelled Asuma.

"Asuma-sensei!" we all yelled.

"Listen, we have a S rank mission. It's not just us, but also Team 7 and Baki's team."

"Naruto, Sakura, Gaara, Temari, and Kankuro?" I asked.

"Yeah. There's a war going in the Land of Water."

We all gasped. I ran over to the group. "What's the war about?"

"I didn't get the specifics, but it's a war that just started. We got the word from one of our spy ninjas."

"I see," I said. "If it's a war, we have to stop it!"

"Good thinking, Chouji," said Asuma.

"It's not like you to do something like this," said Ino.

"Um...Well...I-I've changed!"

"Good for you. Now, we shall all meet here in one hour. Be on time," he said, departing.

I ran home and packed all my chips, ninja tools, and medicinal things. I then ran back to the bridge. I was hoping to be the first one there, but I wasn't. Temari and her team were already there. "Temari!" I yelled.

"Chouji!"

"When'd you get here?"

"We just got here."

"Temari, how do you know him?" asked Kankuro.

"I just met him before I came to you guys."

"Okay."

We waited untill everyone else came. While we were waiting, we didn't talk. There were quick glances at eachother, but nothing more. Next came Shikamaru and Ino. Temari looked at them and then at the floor. I still couldn't stand seeing her look sad over Shikamaru. "Temari?"

"Yes?" she asked, looking at me.

"Please...Please don't be sad over Shikamaru. It pains me to see you be sad."

"Chouji..."

That's when Naruto came between me and Temari. "Ooo! Looks like someone has the hots!" Naruto teased. We both blushed. I covered Naruto's mouth and dragged him away.

"When did you get here?" I asked him.

"Just now! Sakura too."

"Where's Kakashi?"

"I don't know. Late as always, I suppose."

"Are you talking about me?" asked Kakashi, appearing behind Naruto. Naruto squeeled like a little girl.

"Kakashi-sensei! Don't scare me like that!"

"Sorry."

"Good! Now that we're all here," said Asuma, walking to the bridge, "we can start the mission."

Everyone gulped, except for the senseis. They were used to wars. We walked all the way to the southeastern coast and took a boat to the Land of Water. I was suprised. No one had come to attack us. "Asuma-sensei?" I whispered.

"What is it?"

"How come no one's come to attack us?"

"Because every ninja in the land is fighting the war."

"Who are they fighting?"

"Us."

I gasped. Our land has been peaceful, we wouldn't want to start a war! The only times we have is because of Orochimaru, that's all! Oh, I forgot about Kyuubi. "Why us?"

"I'm not really sure. I think it started as an accident. One of our jonin supposedly accidentally shot an innocent kid during a battle. The parents killed the ninja that did it, then everyone broke into a war."

"All that because of one dead child?" asked Ino.

"Gaara, are you feeling..." Kankuro looked behind him to see Gaara hanging over the edge of the boat. "...okay?"

"Kankuro...I think I get sea sick..."

"You do look green," said Temari.

"Are we there yet?!" yelled Naruto.

"Shut up, Naruto!" Sakura yelled, quietly.

"If they hear you, they'll kill us," the sailor told us.

Untill we got to the shore, we were silent. We got off and the sailor sailed away. We walked to Tazuna's house. Naruto told me that he was the bridge builder that they protected. "Tazuna-san?" asked Sakura.

An old man opened the door. "What do you...Oh...It's you guys."

"Hi! Mind if we stay here untill we finish the war?" asked Kakashi.

"Not at all. Amari will be pleased to see Naruto again."

We walked into the house. "Say, who are the other people?"

"Baki and his squad Temari, Gaara, and Kankuro. Asuma and his squad Ino, Shikamaru, and Chouji," Kakashi told him.

"I see. Amari! Come down here!"

A young boy ran down the stairs. "Yes?" He looked behind him and his face lit up. "Naruto!" he yelled. He hugged him.

"Hello again, Amari."

"Oh, Tazuna-san?" asked Sakura.

"Yeah?"

"What did you end up naming the bridge?"

"The Great Naruto Bridge."

"What?" asked everyone.

"Hey, where's that guy with the adittude?"

"He left. He got kidnapped and then ran away," said Naruto.

"I see..."

"Well, is there anywhere we can train?" I asked.

"Yeah, the forest on the outskirts of town."

"Thanks!" Naruto and I ran our the door.

We got to the forest and started performing jutsus and training our chakra. After a hour of training, Naruto went back to the house to grab some food. I stayed. I wanted to impress Temari to make her like me. I continued training. I think another hour went by untill I heard leaves rustling and crunching behind me. I turned around and there was Temari. I started blushing. "T-Temari! What are you doing here?'

"I should be asking that question. It's been two hours since you left. See? It's getting dark."

"But what are you doing here?"

"I wanted to see if you were alright," she replied, blushing.

_She was worried about me?_ I thought to myself, and I started blushing.

"Here. I-I thought you might be hungry," she said, handing me some rice balls.

"Thank you," I said, taking them.

Naruto came after I had finished eating. "Guys! Why don't you go to the house and rest? I'll train now, dattebuyo."

"You sure?" asked Temari.

"Yeah."

So Temari and I left for the house. This was the first time we've been alone. We were both blushing and didn't say a word. Halfway home, Temari suddenly said, "Why do you want to train so hard?"

"Well, you see, there's someone precious to me, and I want to make that person happy, no matter what."

"I see. This person must mean alot to you."

_Wait! She might be thinking about Shikamaru! Ack! She might think I'm gay now! Nooo!! Bad wording!!! Oh well...Can't change the past...What's done it done..._ We finally came back home.

"Temari! You're back! Come on. Let's go to bed. We start tomorrow," said Kankuro.

"'Kay. Night, Chouji."

I blushed. "Night, Temari."

"Come on, Chouji. Let's go to bed as well."

"Where's Ino?"

"Asleep. Everyone, except Naruto, is asleep. Let's go."

"Okay." We walked to our rooms and as soon as I laied down, I fell asleep.

The next morning, I heard Kankuro yelling about in his room. Something about Temari. I walked over to his room. "What's wrong?"

"I've searched everywhere for Temari, and I can't find her!"

"What?!" I ran out of the house. I looked all around the area, then I went to see if she was at the training spot. I fell to my knees. I pounded the ground with my fists. "Temari..." Tears started to streak down my face. _Plop! Plop!_ She couldn't be dead. She couldn't. I burst into tears at the thought of that. My heart ached. I burst into tears. "Temari!!!!!" I yelled.


	2. Chapter 2: Save her!

As I kenlt there, crying, I wished that this was just a dream. That I would wake up and Temari would be with everyone eating breakfast, but no matter what I did, this all turned out to be real. "Temari...did you go out to war on your own and die? Did you? No. You're not that stupid." I got up. "I get it! Someone kidnapped you." I ran back to the house.

"Chouji!" yelled Shikamaru. "Did you find her?"

"No..."

"We know why. Stupid _Naruto_ here fell _asleep_ in the feild and someone came to him," said Kankuro. I walked up to him.

"Tell me everything you told this person!" I demanded.

"W-Well, it was like this..."

_I was sleeping when all the sudden, I saw a young man come and wake me up. It was the crack of dawn or something like that. "What? Whoa. Did I sleep here?"_

_"Yeah, you were sleeping." The man had short black hair and blue eyes. "What are you doing sleeping out here? Don't you know about the war?"_

_"Yeah, but me and my friends are here to stop it. See the headband?"_

_"Yeah."_

_"I was here training. Guess I fell asleep."_

_"Earlier, I saw a young man with orange hair and a young woman. Tell me, does that young man have affections for the young woman."_

_"I think so. Why?"_

_"Oh, just wondering," he said, smiling. "Well, you better go before they start fighting again." And with that, the boy left._

"I started training for a while, and when I came back, Temari was gone."

"You _idiot_!" I yelled. I grabbed him by the collar. "Thanks to you, Temari's been kidnapped!"

"Chouji!" yelled Asuma. I looked at him.

"Chouji, this isn't like you," said Ino.

I had realized what I was doing. "I'm sorry."

"Alright, let's go and fight that war," said Baki.

"But what about Temari?" asked Kankuro.

"Chouji will find her," said Gaara.

"Yeah. Good idea," said Shikamaru.

"What?"

"Chouji," said Shikamaru, walking over to me. He put his arm around my shoulder. "You should do it. After all, you worry about her the most." I blushed. "I know that you love her. Go on," he whispered to me.

"H-How'd you?"

"The way you reacted when she dissappeared." Shikamaru smiled. I smiled back. "Okay, it's decided! Chouji will look for Temari while the rest of us go fight the war!"

"Shikamaru, be careful," I said.

"You too." We all grabbed our things and once we got out of the door, I separated from the group. "Oh, man! How am I supposed to find her?" I tried to remember anything that would help me find her. I remembered that Temari could summon Kamatari, a scythe-carrying weasel. _Maybe she's summoned it already_, I thought. Then, I saw a figure ahead. As it came closer, it was Kamatari. "Kamatari!"

"Are you Akimichi Chouji?" It asked me.

"Yes. Did Temari send you?"

"Yes! Who else? Follow me!" I followed it untill we got to a cave. We entered it. There, towards the end, I saw Temari chained to the wall.

"Temari!" I yelled. I ran to her.

"Chouji!" As I ran closer to her she yelled, "Stop!" I stopped. "There's a electric sheild here! Only Roy can come in!"

"Who's Roy?"

"I am," said a voice. I looked at him. It was the boy Naruto was talking about. "So, you actually came to get her? How loyal you are."

"That idiot," I whispered. "Why?! Why'd you kidnap her?! Huh? Give me one good reason why I shouldn't beat the _shit_ out of you right now!!" I yelled.

"Because, remember this is war. I need a hostage. And it was a girl," he replied, licking his lips.

I looked back at Temari. "Temari! Temari, did he do _anything_ to you?"

"No."

"Whew!" I looked back at him. "How _dare_ you...How _dare_ you kidnap her!! I'll destroy you!!" I charged at the man. He dodged me and went to Temari. He grabbed her chin.

"Such beautiful lips." He moved in to kiss her.

"Stay away from her!!!" I yelled. I takled him away from her.

"Chouji..." she whispered.

I grabbed his collar. "You dare touch her again, and _I'll split your fuckin' head open_!" I was enraged. I would not rest until this man died by my hands. I brought out my kuni and as I was about to strike, he snapped, and dissappeared.

"This fight shall resume later..."

As the voice dissappeared, and so did Kamatari, I ran to Temari and punched the chains into oblivion and caught the falling Temari in my arms. "ARe you okay?"

"Chouji!" she hugged me, crying. "I was so scared! So scared..."

Blushing, I hugged Temari. "It's okay. I'm here...I'm here."

We retunred back to Tazuna-san's. I opened the door and Kankuro takled Temari. "Temari!" he yelled. "I'm so glad you're safe!" he yelled, nuzzling her.

"K-Kankuro! What's wrong with you?! Get off!"

"Kankuro's been drinking Tazuna's sake..." said Gaara. Gaara was swaying back and forth, holding a small cup. He leaned on the door frame. Temari looked at him.

"I see you have too."

"So?"

"You're still little!"

He took another sip of the sake. "Don't treat me like a child. I can do what I want, when I want. And stop spinning like that." Gaara looked at the ground.

"Gaara?" asked Temari.

"I gotta go do something..."

"Huh?"

Gaara ran to a corner and started to throw up.

"I told you don't to drink too much..." said Kankuro in his singing voice. He took a sip from the bottle. Then he started throwing up.

Temari and I smacked our foreheads.

They passed out so we put them on their beds and put a washcloth on their foreheads to lower their fevers. "Thanks for saving me."

"No problem. I'm just happy your safe and alive."

She smiled at me. Things were going swell. I just hope that this will always be like this. But my fantasy must change, because trouble always bekons.


	3. Chapter 3: Cyber Dragon

(I apologize for taking so long. I haven't had an idea until now, so here's the next chapter! 3)

"Hey!" yelled a voice. My eyes were slightly blurred as I looked upon the voice that called. My eyes slowly opened and I found Temari's face upside down. I gasped, blushed and then screamed a short scream before moving out from under her. She smiled at me and I blinked.

"T-Temari! Don't scare me like that!" I yelled, blushing lightly.

"But you're the one that completely overslept! I had to come in here and wake you up because everyone else is already eating breakfast!" she groaned, crossing her arms.

"What?!" I yelled. I shot up and ran past Temari and into the kitchen. Everyone looked at me.

"Ah! Chouji! You finally woke up," said Shikamaru, smiling.

"Took you long enough! We were starting to get worried if you would miss our first day on the field!" yelled Naruto as he was stuffing his face with rolls.

"Wow...I didn't think that you'd start worryi-- Hey, Naruto! Stop hogging all the food!" I yelled as I sat down and started to eat as well.

Asuma and Kakashi sighed as they watched their ninjas eat. The only one not eating was Temari. I looked at her from the corner of my eyes. Her lips were moving. From where I was sitting, I could have sworn that her lips said _Tada sono mama_, which means _Stay like this._ What was she talking about? And who was she saying it to? Well...judging from the direction her eyes were, I'd have to say that she wasn't saying it to anyone.

The girl was leaning on the side of the door, looking to the side, though, apparently, her eyes were looking out the window. I paused in my eating and set my bowl of food down. I stood and walked over to Temari. "Hey..." I said, softly. She looked over to me, blinking. "What's the matter?"

"Huh? Oh...Nothing...I'm just...worried..." she said, softly.

I blinked. "Worried? About what?"

"About this war...I haven't really been in a war before, but there's only one thing that I'm truly afraid of in life..." she muttered, looking out the window again.

"What's that?"

She paused before she actually decided to answer me. "Death..."

I thought about what she said. "Well, of course! That's--"

"Hey! Chouji! Temari! We're leaving to go fight so hurry it up!" We looked toward the voice to see Naruto waving at us. I sighed and then looked at Temari.

"Don't worry..." I started, smiling, "...I'll protect you...I promise..." With that, I outstretched my hand to her. She blinked and looked at it before she smiled slightly and placed her small delicate hand on mine. With that, we both walked out and once we met up with the others, our hands were still intertwined.

They blinked, but acted as if they saw nothing. We smiled at each other and continued to walk to the battle feild.

--

When we got there, the stench of blood was thickly coating the air. Everywhere we turned, there was blood everywhere and piles of corpses stacked upon each other. I felt Temari's hand grasp mine tighter. Houses were destroyed everywhere and there wasn't any sunlight around. "It seems like a tornado _and_ a battalion came through here all at once," muttered Naruto.

"We should pick up our pace. We never know when they might attack us..." muttered Sakura.

We nodded in agreement. We looked around and wandered aimlessly into the damaged city. It seemed like there was nothing here...like we were looking for something the never existed. As we cautiously walked deeper and deeper into the Land of Mist, Temari's grip of my hand grew tighter. He looked at her and blinked. "Something here..." she whispered.

She stopped and placed her free hand on her fan. I stopped and looked at her. "Temari?" She stayed slient as he topaz eyes looked over towards her right, glaring at a building. I looked over there too and blinked. "What do you see?" She didn't respond.

"Hey, what are you two doing?" asked Naruto as he went over to us.

"There's something here..." she repeated. She gripped her fan and then, the next thing I saw were boards flying everywhere, smoke filing the musty air. I fell backwards, but I never felt myself hit the ground. I blinked and looked around. I was on...Temari's fan? We looked down at the being that caused the explosion. It wasn't anything normal. It was a giant mechanical dragon.

"What the hell is that thing?!" demanded Naruto as Temari and I landed next to them.

"I'm not quite sure, but it's not good..." muttered Ino. She bit her lower lip. "I can't take over it's mind...Shikamaru, got any ideas?"

"The most I can do is try to capture it's shadow, but even then, it won't work...it's too large and the force it would bring could force my Shadow Possetion Jutsu to do nothing," he growled.

"Dammit! If only Sasuke were here, then he could melt the thing with his Fireball Jutsu..." said Sakura, softly.

"Sakura! Stop talking about Sasuke! Sasuke's not going to come and save you," said Shikamaru. "Now focus!"

The dragon roared a mechanical roar and swung it's tail at us. Some of us dodged it, but others got the blow, other's as in Ino and Sakura. We tried throwing bombs at it, but nothing seemed to work.

"Who the hell made this thing?!" demanded Shikamaru.

"I did..." said a voice. We all froze and looked around. "Up here," the voice said again. We all looked up at the dragon and blinked. Ino, Naruto, Sakura and Kakashi froze.

"It...can't be..." started Sakura.


End file.
